The cold touch penetrated deep into his blood, and the stinging sensation instantly woke Qi Ku from his dream.

The moment he opened his eyes, he subconsciously held his neck and repeatedly checked the part that had been "bitten" by the guy just now.

The numb and tingling sensation still remained on his skin, but his neck was intact, and there were no traces of any scars left by the other party.

Qi Qiu's Adam's apple slipped slightly. He kept holding his neck and looked at the white mist and moonlight flowing in the night with some trance.

Because the touch in the dream was too real, his heartbeat was faster than usual at this moment.

After a while, Qi Jiu closed his eyes again, his eyelashes wet with sweat trembling slightly, like a butterfly flapping its wings in the rain.

After calming down, Qi Qiu began to recall the details of the dream and sort out the information provided by the other party.

The role of the male courtesan is likely to be a spirit that seduces people and bites the neck of its prey to suck blood.

And that casual sentence "The moonlight is so beautiful tonight" - Qi Jiu didn't think it was the other party's casual greeting, nor did he think it was sex...

It is possible that the "moon" itself is an important metaphor.

Miss Ikuko seems to have the same hobby of sucking blood.

What does that guy's character have to do with Miss Ikuko? Miss Ikuko seems to be afraid of him. Is he a higher-level existence than Miss Ikuko?

Was the hobby of blood-sucking "inherited" from the other party?

Now Qi Gu is certain that Miss Ikuko's blood-sucking behavior occurred in the soup pool.

Ms. Ikuko seems to like to enjoy the plasma of male guests in the hot spring. The person in charge of "Iku no Yu" seems to be aware of her habit of sucking blood, so she has made a rule that no one is allowed to approach the "to be cleaned" hot spring.

Because the pond "to be cleaned" is the murder scene of Miss Ikuko.

In this way, the strong smell of blood that permeated the vicinity of the soup pool was explained. The information provided by the filth and the hints from the dream could also confirm Qi Ku's guess.

But after Ms. Ikuko drank the blood, where were the bodies of the missing victims hidden?

The spirit body of Uesugoshi looked very weak last night. Did Ms. Ikuko do something to them who died?

Intricate clues gradually surfaced, just like the white mist floating in the night, they were clearly close in front of us but elusive.

Why did Ms. Ikuko do this? What role did that guy play in the dungeon?

From the famous courtesan in the arcade to the evil spirit whose mouth was cut open and burned to death, what exactly did Miss Ikuko experience?

All the clues are just appearances. Qi Qiu must follow them to find the core plot point of the dungeon.

*

Before dawn, Qi Chu fulfilled his promise and burned Miss Ikuko's portrait for Uesugoshi.

Just before dawn, there was a knock on his door.

"Excuse me, Miss Ikuko has already greeted me. If you are ready, I will take you to Yuzhiwu."

It was the voice of a young woman.

Qi Chu opened the paper door and saw a young wandering girl wearing a red silk underskirt and a horizontal hairdo who nodded slightly towards him.

He is from Yuzhiwu.

"I'm ready. I'll let you go. Thank you for your hard work." Qi Jiu said.

The sky suddenly appeared, and the mist in the soup pool was dyed light blue by the sky light.

Qi Qiu followed the girl who was leading the way, and the thumping of wooden clogs sounded the dawn of the parade.

"You must already know the content of your work at Yuzhiwu, right?" Younu asked.

Qi Jiu nodded: "The little gray cat responsible for taking care of Yu Zhiwu."

Younu: "Ms. Ikuko attaches great importance to this cat. She has hired many helpers to take care of it before, but none of them satisfied the cat. I hope you can stay longer."

Qi Jiu: "May I ask, is this the cat of the previous generation of oiran?"

The guide girl tilted her head and shook her head: "I don't know. When I came to Yuzhiwu, it was already Miss Ikuko's era."

"No one has mentioned the previous generation of courtesans. This is not allowed," she explained in a deep voice. "It was very impolite to mention the previous generation of courtesans in Ikuko-san's time. Remember that."

Qi Jiu: "Okay, I understand, thank you for letting me know."

It seemed that the way to talk to NPCs had been blocked, and he could only look for clues on his own.

"This little gray cat is similar to the mascot of Yuzhiwu, but it doesn't like to get close to people." The guide girl continued.

Qi Jiu smiled under the mask and made no comment.

The wandering girl who led the way handed the "Yuzhiwu Work Manual" to Qi Qiu: "The most important thing about working in Yuzhiwu is the rules. After all, most of the guests are the ones you and I can't afford to offend, so we must write down these rules carefully.

"

Qi Ku opened the "Yuzhiwu Work Manual" and found only a few lines of rules——

1. Male staff who appear in Yuzhiwu must wear masks, otherwise they are not allowed to appear in public areas, let alone in front of guests and tourist girls;

2. Respect the privacy of guests and do not open the guest's door without permission; keep an appropriate distance from the guest, and do not enter the guest's room without permission;

3. It is prohibited to go to the atrium privately on a moonlit night (except for people in ▇▇▇▇);

Qi Ku's eyes stayed on the third rule, and he discovered the key word - "moon".

The word "moon" also appeared in the dream reminder given by the guy last night. This hidden rule seems to contain information related to the story line.

Yuzhiwu is right next door to Yuzhiyu. About five minutes later, the wandering girl led Qi Qiu to this red building filled with ecstatic ukiyo-e paintings.

Qi Qiu followed the leading tourist girl and lifted the door curtain, bowed and entered Yu Zhi's house.

There are no windows facing the sun in the lobby of Ikunoya, and the walls are covered with thick and rich ukiyo-e paintings. Even in the daytime, lanterns are needed to illuminate the room.

You Mai only opens in the evening, and the morning is the quietest time of the day in Yuzhiwu.

The strong and pungent smell of powder lingers for a long time. There are dark shoji doors on both sides of the crimson corridor. Walking in it, Qi Jiu unconsciously steps lightly. The shoji doors he passes by occasionally flash a little light. They are probably open until dawn.

The wandering girl lit the cigarette in her hand.

"Don't look around. This is where the maids entertain guests. Remember not to disturb the maids' work or offend the guests."

"Especially Miss Ikuko's boudoir. It's at the end of the corridor on the second floor. Don't let anyone else come near it."

"I see."

The surroundings were too quiet, and the sudden sound of clogs lingered in the crimson corridor.

Qi Jiu walked through this corridor more than once in his dream, and saw the crowds of guests at night, and the scene of it being swallowed up by fire.

The female guide took Qi Qiu to the attic on the top floor of the building. The room had no windows, and the moment the paper door was opened, a puff of dull air hit his face.

Qi Jiu looked inside and saw that although the room was small, it was well-equipped and the tatami and other items were neatly packed away. It could be seen that the accommodation conditions in Yuzhiwu were much better than those in Yuzhiyu.

"You should stay in this room from now on. Cats often come here." The guide girl pointed to the top of the wardrobe, "There are male helpers' work clothes there, which have been washed. Remember, when walking in Yuzhiwu

, male helpers must wear clothes specially dyed by Yuzhiwu and wear masks."

With that said, the guided tour girl pushed open the window on the north side of the attic, intending to ventilate the attic.

The north window faced the atrium of Yuzhiwu. The moment the window opened, Qi Qiu was stunned.

In this late winter season, an ancient cherry tree in the courtyard is in full bloom, with lush white cherry blossoms covering the branches, blending in with the snow on the eaves of the street.

A cold wind blew in, blowing the fragrance of flowers into the house.

In the blink of an eye, the falling cherry blossoms seemed like falling fine snow.

"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" the guide girl sighed, and reminded her again, "The cherry tree in the atrium is always blooming all year round, and the color of the flowers changes from time to time. It is the most unique scenery of Yuzhiwu, but there are also

It is forbidden to go to the atrium privately on a moonlit night."

"Can you tell me why?" Qi Zhu asked.

Younu shook her head: "The rules of Yuzhiwu are like this. There is not much reason. We just need to strictly abide by them to live here."

Qi Jiu nodded: "I understand."

After everything was explained, the guide girl bowed and left.

After the paper door closed, Qi Jiu lay down by the north window and stared at the cherry trees blooming like snow in the late winter moon.

The rule "It is forbidden to go to the atrium privately on moonlit nights" is probably because of this cherry tree that blooms all year round, and the keyword "moon" coincides with the guy's prompt. Qi Jiu can easily deduce that this

A strange cherry tree is an important entry point for plot clues.

At the same time, Qi Jiu took out the will-o'-the-wisp bamboo lantern hidden in the toolbar. As he expected, the strange aroma of the cherry trees seemed to be a good burning substance, and the blue-blue will-o'-the-wisp lantern rose up and burned.

Have to dance.

There is indeed a powerful magnetic field of resentful spirits in the cherry trees.

This is easily reminiscent of the old saying of "the dead are buried under the cherry blossom trees".

Qi Jiu quickly made a plan in his mind. On a moonlit night, he needed to use props to verify it. He suspected that Miss Ikuko buried the blood-letting corpses under the cherry tree.

Qi Qiu followed Lu Younu's instructions and took out the special work clothes that Yuzhiwu had prepared for his helpers and put them on. It was a set of red men's bathrobes with quite good craftsmanship. After putting them on, he began to interact with this strange red building.

Things merge into one.

At about noon, before the wandering girl who worked at night woke up, there was a burst of hurried footsteps in the lobby of Yuzhiwu.
To be continued...